CEO recognizes that sustainable agriculture, especially organic farming, represents an opportunity to help provide economic empowerment to limited-resource and minority farmers, help them retain their land and keep their families out of poverty.

In early 2006, CEO began an Organic Farmer Assistance Initiative (OFAI), in partnership with its for-profit affiliate, Agri-Tech Producers, LLC, which provides financial, managerial and marketing assistance to limited-resource and minority organic farmers in South Carolina.

Through this program, CEO has advised would be organic farmers, provided working capital financing to existing organic farmers and developed new buying relationships with organic food stores, like Earth Fare, The Fresh Market and Whole Foods Markets.  In one case, a minority farmer’s revenues from these stores were more than twice as large as they were in the previous year.

In addition, there are also ways to increase the sustainability of traditional limited-resource and minority farmers.  CEO hopes to bring the first farmers markets into poor, inner-city neighborhoods of Columbia, South Carolina, as a way of increasing market opportunities for limited-resource and minority farmers, while bringing much-needed food to poor and underserved inner-city residents of the City of Columbia.  Many of these neighborhoods have no supermarket within a 5-10-mile radius.